smc2020

Actually there was a period when all you needed was a Comm AMEL, 300TT, FEX, and A+P.

Flyboy68

I recall those dark days very well. I didn't do the 135 cargo, I did the 135 in Alaska. I'm lucky to be alive.

Flyboy68

Yep, and my idiot father had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and had his commercial but was an air traffic controller in the Corps. He chose the FAA instead of going to United. SMDH.

cursesRedBaron

I think that fully qualifies you to be an airline pilot!

cursesRedBaron

You ARE lucky to be alive.
The Alaska part 135 safety record in those days was dismal, to say the least.

Flyboy68

I'm not following you. Lost touch with reality?

The job market was pretty bleak when I graduated college. There were no "Cadet Programs" back then. So when we talk about how great things are now and how bad it was back then, just be thankful and quit being a smartass to those of us who didn't have these opportunities.

Nothing worse than someone who has a relatively easy path in their career telling someone who didn't that they shouldn't bring it up.

Be humble, realize how good you have it and give thanks. Saying things like you said, and the "We had to walk uphill both ways to school in the snow" comments are an insult. Would you tell someone who grew up during The Depression to "Shut up and quit complaining about how bad you had it"?

And BTW, I was not complaining about how easy the young pilots of today have it, I was commenting on how crazy the job market is. It's bizarre to me how good it is compared to what it used to be like.

Flyboy68

The two weeks before I quit, there were like 9 crashes and 17 fatalities statewide. One was a guy with >20,000 hrs that flew a Navajo into a mountain and killed 6. One fatality was a guy that flew for the carrier I was flying for. Flew a Cessna 207 into a mountain.

I thought, "If a guy with 20,000 hours over here can get killed, what are my chances with 2000?" So I left.

Flyboy68

Hey bud, I sent you a PM about the DEC programs. I have a few questions for you.

cursesRedBaron

Was that near Cold Bay? Heard about it. Maybe not the same one, though.....For some reason, I though that guy was carrying a fish cargo.

FWIW, the safety record has improved a lot since then.
Better weather reporting.
Portable - or permanent GPS with terrain databases.
That ADS-B traffic reporting system.

Anyway, not near as bad as it was.

Flyboy68

This would have been April of 1995. Horrible weather statewide, the breakup, icing, fog, snow. I felt like I was flying combat missions and wondering whether I'd make it back. I did soooo much Special VFR. We had the first gen GPS units back then. I would make my own GPS approaches to the villages on the coast because it was basically sea level and no trees or terrain. A waypoint about 2 miles straight out from the runway, another one about 1 mile out, and one at the beginning of the runway. Fly at about 500' until 1 mile out, then drop down to about 300' until I saw the runway.

I flew for Yute Air out of Bethel. You familiar with them?